Nissan has stopped development work on an electric version of its bestselling Qashqai SUV according a report from Reuters. 

It seems like an extraordinary move for the Japanese carmaker to stop work on what would surely have been an appealing mainstream family electric vehicle, but it appears the company is on a drive to cut costs and slim down its product range. 

Nissan’s sales were down 16% in the first five months of the year according to the latest available figures from industry body the SMMT, its share of the UK market barely 0.2% ahead of Chinese carmaker BYD. 

Nissan is believed to be in discussions with the UK government about potential support for its Sunderland plant, which is where the electric Qashqai was intended to be built. 

The company committed back in 2023 to build the new electric versions of the Juke, Leaf and Qashqai models at the plant in the northeast of England, with the UK government offering investment in local infrastructure. Though in April it was announced that a £50m facility built by Jatco would not be used to source Nissan’s electric powertrain components. 

The latest version of the Leaf has already gone into production at the Sunderland site, though delivery of the cars has been indefinitely held up due to faulty batteries that were at risk of fire. The new Juke is planned to go into production in early 2027. 

A hint of the Sunderland problems came weeks ago when Nissan said that it was entering into negotiations with Chery to build the Chinese carmaker’s models on a spare production line under contract. 

Nissan has neither confirmed nor denied the decision to stop work on the electric Qashqai, but has tried to hint that the decision was still ongoing. It’s believed that the company could still pursue development of a Qashqai EV, but that it wouldn’t be able to go on sale until the early 2030s.